My Diary from Here to There

My Diary from Here to There

Author: Amada Irma Perez

Illustrator: Maya Christina Gonzalez

Publishing Company: Children’s Book Press

Copyright Date: 2002

36 pages

Multicultural - Mexico

I was really interested in reading this book. The cover was really inviting and it seemed to be unlike most other children’s books. As I started reading, I soon found that my theories were right. This book is written from a young girl’s point of view, Amada. Throughout this book she is writing diary entries. These entries tell her story. Her father has lost his job and plans to move to the United States where there are jobs for him. Amada is very scared by the thought of leaving her home to move to an unknown country. While confiding in her diary, we learn how Amada deals with this new transition in her life.

The illustrations in this book had a very distinct look. They are all created with very bold colors. Maya Gonzalez’s illustrations are painted and depict Amada’s journey from Mexico to her new home, the United States. Overall, these illustrations were double spread. The text is placed on one single page offsetting these illustrations. This book has a very unique feature. Amada’s diary entries are printed not only in English but in Spanish as well. The Spanish entries are placed below the English versions.

Overall I found this book to be very interesting. I would love to incorporate this into my own classroom. This book would be best for middle elementary school aged children. This book would be great to introduce the Mexican culture and language with a classroom. I would most likely use a Venn diagram with this book in order to compare and contrast the Mexican culture with our own. As an extension of this book, I would have students create journal entries discussing how they would feel if their families had to move to a different country. The last way I would use this in my classroom would be as a cultural connection for students. If I had any native Spanish speaking students in my classroom, I would introduce this text to them. I feel that they would really enjoy the translated diary entries seen with the book.